Pickled cucumber & hot smoked salmon

In Japanese home cooking these ‘quick pickles’, known as ‘tsukemono’, form a part of almost every meal. They take only minutes to prepare and once you’ve tried them, you’ll never look at a raw vegetable the same way again.

Ingredients

Quantity

Ingredient

1/4

large cucumber, halved lengthways

5

radishes, very finely sliced

2 teaspoons

caster sugar

2 1/2 tablespoons

white wine vinegar

140g

full-fat cream cheese

2 teaspoons

wholegrain mustard

6 slices

rye bread, halved diagonally

2 fillets

hot smoked salmon, skin removed

1/2 tablespoon

poppy seeds

12

edible flowers, such as violas (optional)

salt

freshly ground black pepper

Method

Using a vegetable peeler or mandoline, slice the cucumber into ribbons and place in a bowl, then stir in the radishes, sugar, vinegar, a little salt and 3 tbsp water. Set aside to pickle for at least 30 minutes, stirring every so often.

Beat the cream cheese and mustard together in a bowl with some seasoning. Toast the bread slices and cool briefly, then spread with cream cheese. Drain the pickled vegetables and divide between the toast slices. Flake over the hot smoked salmon, sprinkle with poppy seeds and top with an edible flower, if using.